This article is from page 2 of the 2011-04-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
IRISH industries can play their part in beating the recession by actively going out into the marketplace and bringing foreign direct investment into the country.
This call for companies to become proactive and do work normally left to the Industrial Development Authority or Enterprise Ireland has been sounded out this week by Clare businessman Edmund Jennings, managing director of the Cregg Group that has secured 170 new jobs for Clare with Zagg’s decision to locate in the Shannon Free Zone.
Mr Jennings’ company took the lead for industry in the region by bringing Zagg to Ireland, a major boost to the mid-west economy that he says can be a business model for industry in the region going forward.
“We recruited Leonard Kiely and sent him over to America to see if he could recruit more business for us,” Mr Jennings told The Clare People this week. “He went into Best Buy and noticed that a portion of the shop had been allocated to this company called Zagg. We contacted Zagg and told them what we did. It so happened that they had a plan to establish a presence in Europe. They had been looking at either going to France, Germany or Holland, but decided to come to Ireland,” he added.
Now, Mr Jennings has urged other companies to follow the lead of the Cregg Group. “There is huge potential there, for companies who don’t want to set up a manufacturing company in their own right but who will go into partnership with a company in Ireland.
“The opportunity is there for companies to go out and try and source companies that might find themselves in the situation that Zagg were in – a company with some sales in Europe who want to expand.
“Irish companies should consider that rather than try and compete against fellow companies in Ireland for the small amount of logistics business that’s there. They should look overseas at the possibility of offering services to US companies and Asian companies who want to get product into Europe,” he added.